Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa August 2015 | Page 46

MY STORY Dealmaker Creates Reality Property Show ‘The Deal’ The reality of buying, renovating and letting a building BY NEALE PETERSEN G awie Venter (37) is a passionate property entrepreneur and real estate investor from Somerset West in Cape Town. Gawie bought his first commercial property in 2003 at the age of 25. Ever since then Gawie has been helping investors buy and sell property. He has been the correspondent for previous editions of REIM on buying below market value properties and also holds commercial property in a company called Teleo Group. Over the past 12 years Gawie has developed an insight to identify distressed property deals. He works with a specific team of professionals including liquidators and other strategic partners with whom he has built strong relationships. With his renovation team, he has turned many run down buildings into beautiful AAA facilities before securing long-term leases on the buildings. During the past 12 years, Gawie has bought and sold several residential and commercial properties. ‘The Deal’ Gawie stars as the main dealmaker in Africa’s hottest new business reality TV show called ‘The Deal’. Gawie was the mastermind behind the show, as he wanted to create a unique way for the South African property industry to view how property is bought, renovated, leased and sold. A real life story was developed around Lwazi Ngalo, a young adult from the Khayelitsha Township, who started from humble beginnings to become a successful property entrepreneur. The show follows Gawie and his team across South Africa in their quest to renovate a degraded building into an architectural gem in just one month. It is reality TV at its best, showing the highs and lows, tears and laughter of the drama that happens behind the scenes when the pressure is turned on and the people either make it or break it. 44 AUGUST 2015 SA Real Estate Investor The show focuses on buying below market value commercial properties and extracting value from them, drawing on Gawie’s experience in this area. Gawie lives by his motto, ‘”right believing leads to right living.” His goal is to list Teleo Group’s commercial properties in three years time and to have Robert Kiyosaki partner with him in doing a property deal on their TV show. The first episode will be available to view online at www.thedeal.tv before it is screened on TV. 8 THINGS YOU MUST KNOW BEFORE YOU BUY OR SELL A PROPERTY: 1. Capital growth is likely, but not always guaranteed 2. Certain areas have a higher price growth than other areas 3. Cash flow remains the most important factor of the property and can make or break your pocket 4. There are always opportunities to buy properties well below market value 5. Financing a good buy the wrong way can sink a deal 6. In order to get the most for your property when you sell it, you must price it according to market price 7. The right property with the wrong tenant is the wrong property 8. Work with people who practice what they preach REIM is running a monthly competition for readers who have watched each episode and can answer specific questions about the program. RESOURCES Teleo Group www.reimag.co.za